Can anyone take away HBU’s crown as England’s best team?
HBU comprehensively beat Manchester 15-8 on Sunday at the Arcadia after having beaten Sheffield on the Saturday. This with an under-strength team, having rested England number 1 Dan Barton, and key outplayers.
They now sit at the top of the league, 4 points clear and 1 game in hand of Letchworth who seem to have self destructed a great chance to take the Championship this season from the South East Masters.
So how do HBU do it? Why do they dominate?
The reason is not simple, but no great secret. First of all, they train, and train and TRAIN – the younger they are (the formative years) the more they train. They have quality coaches and vast playing experience.
But NOT only this, as it takes more than that to make a great team consistent.
They play for the Badge, and they play for each other. They play to be part of the heritage that is HBU – for almost 100 years.
People have accused HBU of being arrogant – as Southsea were before them in the 80’s when they dominated – and why not?? They ARE the best, this cannot be disputed.
The other thing that must be remembered is that they do not just get together to play hockey then go their separate ways – they have social events like Awards Nights, fundraisers, BBQ’s and a thriving skating club. All organised by players parents and coaches who double as a dedicated Executive Committee to make sure the sum is greater than the parts, and will go on for years to come, not being dependant on 1 or 2 people holding it all together. “That’s the real strength of Herne Bay United” said Tony Czifra.
“Last season HBU were rocked to the core when Middlesbrough beat us at the Pier” said Aileen Barker, General Secretary of the NRHA and long time Executive Member of HBU. “We looked at how we needed to make sure we continued to be where we had got to” said Aileen. The result was to gather club funds together to bring a Top Coach over from abroad to assess and give feedback to how HBU should plan for the future.
This has taken place, and HBU now continue to beat all comers with plenty of young players to replace older ones. PHil McVey, now Player-Coach for HBU said on Saturday “I love playing hockey, and that’s what I want to do. But this means I can continue in hockey, and give something back.”
Any club who want to challenge HBU for their crown can do it, but you need to have a great depth of players, surrounded by a management team and executives to make sure you can do it.
As it stands HBU seem to be unstoppable and deserve it, unless a team shows more committment to take this from them.
